10 Wrestlers Who Reward You For Paying Attention

8. Jon Moxley

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In his awesome, badass promos, that are infinitely better because they are two minutes long and he writes them, Jon Moxley tells you the finish of his matches before he ends his opponents.

He told Brian Cage that he was going to rip the bicep from his bone, and he would have, following an expert submission frenzy, had Taz not thrown in the towel. He warned Eddie Kingston to protect his neck. In the main event of Full Gear, he wrapped barbed wire around his arm and tried to puncture his throat with it.

This is phenomenal babyface work because what Jon Moxley is doing is expressing abundant confidence and building trust in his fans. He is a babyface you can believe in, but he doesn't scream histrionic promises. He tells you, measuredly, what he's going to do. And he's more than enough of an ass-kicker to do it.

And it's never predictable, and he never loses his killer aura by sacrificing too much of it in his matches. The balance of the act is just unbelievable: he can sell like a motherf*cker, but it makes sense when he fights back mostly because you really want him to fight back.

Moxley rewards you for paying attention and for believing in him. He's the greatest babyface in the game, and all he had to do was be the opposite of Dean Ambrose.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!